Roll drive for printing presses



Jan. 22, 1957 R. W. REINARTZ ROLL DRIVE FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed March 25, 1953 INVENTOR ROBE RT REINARTZ ATTOR N EYS United States Patent I ROLL DRIVE FOR PRINTING PRESSES Robert Wilhelm Reinartz, Augsburg, Germany, assignor to Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nnrnberg A. G., Augsburg, Germany, a corporation of Germany Application March 23, 1953, Serial No. 343,954

Claims priority, application Germany March 29, 1952 3 Claims. (Cl. 101-216) This invention relates to drive means for printing press rolls and more particularly to apparatus for removing printing press rolls from the press and disengaging them from the printing press drive.

It is frequently desirable to remove from printing presses certain of the rolls thereof (e. g. inking rolls, ink distributing rolls, etc.) for purposes of cleaning, replacement, etc. Such removal is facilitated if the rolls are held in open journals or bearing brackets from which they can be easily lifted. If it is desired, however, to have such of the rolls as are positively driven from the main press drive also removable, they must be disengaged from the driving means as well as removed from their journals.

According to this invention, apparatus is provided for removing rolls from a printing press by simply lifting them from open bearing brackets and at the same time disengaging such rolls from the driving means therefor without dismantling the drive means itself.

It is accordingly a principal object of this invention to provide a disengageable coupling between a printing press roll and a drive shaft therefor whereby the roll can be lifted out of the printing press and disengaged from the drive shaft without dismantling the drive.

Another object of this invention is to provide a removable roll for a printing press of the character described and bearing and drive means therefor whereby the roll may be lifted out of its bearings and, by the same act, disengaged from its drive means.

A further object of this invention is to provide, in a printing press having an enclosed gear drive, a disengageable coupling for driven rolls whereby the rolls can be disengaged from the enclosed drive without the neoessity of opening the drive enclosure.

Still another object of this invention is to provide apparatus of the character described with which conventional printing press rolls may be utilized. 7

A still further object of this invention is to provide a drive and coupling apparatus of the character described which may be applied to conventional printing press rolls.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawing, and the appended claims.

In the drawing- Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through a roll and drive shaft therefor embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a section through the coupling on the line II-II in Fig. 1 on a somewhat larger scale; and Fig. 3 is a section along the line IIIIII of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention and in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views, a printing press roll 1 is mounted on its axle 2 in known manner and connected thereto. One end of the axle 2 is supported by a bearing 3 which rests in a bearing bracket 4 mounted on one side wall 7 of the printing press. The other end of axle 2 is supported in a bearing 5 which rests on another bearing bracket 6 mounted on the side wall 8 of the printing press frame. Both the bearing brackets 4 and 6 are open at the top so that the roll 1 and its bearings 3 and 5 may be simply lifted out of the brackets 4 and 6 and-out of the printing press.

Iournaled in a bearing 10 through the side wall 8 of the printing press frame is a drive shaft 9 driven by gear 11 which meshes with the main drive (not shown) of the printing press. This main drive and gear 11 are outside the printing press frame and may conveniently be enclosed in an oil-tight gear box for sealed in lubrication.

The end of axle 2 adjacent bearing 5 carries a housing 12 keyed or otherwise affixed to axle 2. Housing 12 includes an offset end portion 13 of a non-circular cross section. As shown in Fig. 2, the offset end portion 13 of housing 12 includes two driving surfaces 14 and 14'.

On the end of shaft 9 toward the left in the drawing are two driving lugs 16 and 17 provided with surfaces 15 and 15' adapted to engage surfaces 14 and 14' on the ofiset portion 13 of housing 12.

It will accordingly be seen that drive shaft 9 will drive roll 1 through the driving engagement of lugs 16 and 17 on shaft 9 with offset portion 13 on housing 12, and that this will be a positive drive of roll 1. When it is desired, however, to remove roll 1 from the printing press, it is only necessary to rotate the roll and shaft 9 until the position shown in Fig. 2 is reached. At this point the entire roll 1 along with its axle 2, bearings 3 and 5, and housing 12 can be lifted upwardly out of the press, and this can be accomplished without having to open the gear box or otherwise disturb the gear drive. In the same manner the roll 1 can be readily replaced. Thus simple apparatus is provided for removing positively driven printing press rolls and for disengaging them from their drive shafts without having to uncouple the drive or open the gear box. Also a simple disengageable coupling is providedwhereby the roll can be positively driven from the main gear drive mounted on the outside of the printing press without the need of auxiliary disengageable drives or gear trains inside the printing press. Although ofiset 1 portion 13 may be machined or otherwise integrally provided on the axle 2, as by having a tenon machined thereon, the use of housing 12 has the further advantage that conventional rolls can be used according to this invention and readily interchanged between positively driven and idling or frictionally driven positions.

While the form of apparatus herein described constitutes a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precise form of apparatus, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a printing press of the character described having a driven roll mounted in a limited space with limited accessibility and main gear drive means on the outside of said press, the combination which comprises an axle for said roll having a diameter substantially less than the diameter of said roll, bearing brackets rigidly mounted in said press for receiving and supporting each end of said axle, said bearing brackets being open at the top thereof for lifting said roll in a radial direction directly free of said press, means on said bearing brackets preventing displacement of said roll in all axial and radial directions except said lifting direction to maintain said roll accurately aligned and positioned in said press, said bearing brackets extending not substantially higher than the diameter of said axle for lifting said roll directly free of said press and said brackets by movement of said roll through a distance substantially less than the diameter 2,778,302 Patented Jan. 22, 1957 thereof, a drive shaft for said roll rigidly mounted in said press and extending from said main gear drive means on the outside of said press into said press adjacent one of said bearing brackets and axially aligned therewith, coupling means including interlocking tenon and socket means on one end of said roll axle and the inner end of said drive shaft for cooperating engagement adjacent said bearing bracket as the sole driving connection for said roll when positioned in said press, and said socket of said coupling means including a substantial circumferential opening for disengaging said tenon therefrom in one angular position of said coupling means upon lifting said roll radially from said press and in the absence of axial displacement of said roll or said coupling means.

2. In a printing press of a character described having a driven roll mounted in a limited space with limited accessibility and main gear drive means on the outside of said press, the combination which comprises an axle for said roll having a diameter substantially less than the diameter of said roll, bearing brackets rigidly mounted in said press for receiving and supporting each end of said axle, said bearing brackets being open at the top thereof for lifting said roll in a radial direction directly free of said press, means on said bearing brackets preventing displacement of said roll in all axial and radial directions except said lifting direction to maintain said roll accurately aligned and positioned in said press, said hearing brackets extending not substantially higher than the diameter of said axle for lifting said roll directly free of said press and said brackets by movement of said roll through a distance substantially less than the diameter thereof, a drive shaft for said roll rigidly mounted in said press and extending from said main gear drive means on the outside of said press into said press adjacent one of said bearing brackets and axially aligned therewith, a tenon at one end of said roll axle, a socket at the inner end of said drive shaft for receiving and tightly engaging said tenon as the sole driving connection between said roll and said drive shaft when said roll is positioned in said press, and said socket having a substantial circumferential opening at least as wide as the thickness of said tenon for disengaging said tenon therefrom in one angular position of said shaft upon lifting said roll radially from said press and in the absence of axial displacement of said roll or said socket.

3. In a printing press of the character described having a driven roll mounted in a limited space with limited accessibility and main gear drive means on the outside of said press, the combination which comprises an axle for said roll having a diameter substantially less than the diameter of said roll, bearing brackets rigidly mounted in said press for receiving and supporting each end of said axle, said bearing brackets being open at the top thereof for lifting said roll in a radial direction directly free of said press, means on said bearing brackets preventing displacement of said roll in all axial and radial directions except said lifting direction to maintain said roll accurately aligned and positioned in said press, said bearing brackets extending not substantially higher than the diameter of said axle for lifting said roll directly free of said press and said brackets by movement of said roll through a distance substantially less than the diameter thereof, a drive shaft for said roll rigidly mounted in said press and extending from said main gear drive means on the outside of said press into said press adjacent one of said bearing brackets and axially aligned therewith, interfitting disengageable elements on one end of said roll axle and the inner end of said drive shaft including a tenon member and diametrically opposed lugs spaced apart by at least the thickness of said tenon member for receiving said tenon member therebetween in interfitting driving engagement as the sole driving connection between said drive shaft and said roll, and said spaced apart lugs being positioned for slidable disengagement of said tenon therefrom in one angular position of said drive shaft upon radially lifting said roll out of said press in the absence of axial displacement of said roll or said drive shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 918,459 Morgan Apr. 13, 1909 1,669,931 Dourie May 15, 1928 1,867,405 Gurwick July 12, 1932 2,060,209 Heckert Nov. 10, 1936 2,146,963 Lang Feb. 14, 1939 2,460,504 Huebner Feb. 1, 1949 2,581,593 Luttenauer Jan. 8, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 806,677 France Dec. 22, 1936 

